Precocious seven-year-old Elsa, and her seventy-seven year old Granny, who is quite possibly bonkers, are inseparable. Elsa is very different from other children her age, but Granny says that it’s okay to be unique. Granny is a retired surgeon, Elsa’s greatest champion and a superhero with a wicked sense of the absurd. The pair have their own secret language, which Granny uses to entertain Elsa with fairy tales about the Land of Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas.

Elsa and Granny live in a large house with several flats. Among the residents of these apartments are oddball characters with quirky personalities such as a rigid rule enforcer, a taxi driver, a drunkard, a woman who bakes dream cookies, a boy with a syndrome, and perhaps most frightening of all, The Monster and Our Friend the Wurse. Granny delights in teasing some of their neighbors while giving preferential treatment to others.

But when Granny dies, she sends Elsa on a hunt through each of the lands, delivering letters apologizing for her ways. It is the adventure of a lifetime, and one full of peril and danger to Elsa. Still, Granny has provided protection for Elsa as she goes about her journey. With each letter, Elsa meets the natives of each of the seven lands in the fairy tales, and learns more about herself, her mother and others in her real life. The journey transforms not only Elsa, but reveals much about her grandmother’s secret life as a superhero.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Swedish writer Fredrik Backman, author of the best-selling novel A Man Called Ove, is both humorous and heartbreaking. The characters are intricately drawn, the plot is engaging and moves at a rapid pace as Elsa makes good on Granny’s last wishes. Beautifully translated and impeccably developed, the charming novel My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry is not to be left on the shelf unread.

With thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for a preview copy of the novel, in exchange for an honest review.